Community comes together for family of late Italian restaurant owner

Small town Pahrump shows its true colors when two businesses competitors come together in a time of need.

By Vern Hee Pahrump Valley Times

February 24, 2017 - 7:17 am

William Depreta, known as the owner of Papa Willie’s Italian Eatery, passed away on Feb. 9 at the age of 66 years old. There will be a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for his family this Friday at Big Dick’s Pizza at Coyote Corner at 3971 E. Kellogg Road at 4 p.m.
Vern Hee / Pahrump Valley Times

William Depreta, known as the owner of Papa Willie's Italian Eatery, passed away on Feb. 9 at the age of 66-years-old. There will be a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for his family this Friday at Big Dicks Pizza at Coyote Corner at 3971 E. Kellogg Rd. at 4 p.m.

Small town Pahrump shows its true colors when two businesses competitors come together in a time of need.

William Depreta passed away on Feb. 9 at age 66 and was the longtime owner of Papa Willie’s Italian Eatery and a 23-year resident of Pahrump.

He is having a spaghetti dinner fundraiser in memory of Depreta today at his restaurant at Coyote Corner at 3971 E. Kellogg Road at 4 p.m. The cost is $10 and will include a salad and bread stick.

Cappa said all the proceeds will go to helping out Depreta’s widow, Theresa, with funeral costs.

“I know his daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Jessie, we all play pool together in a league,” Cappa said. “We decided to do this on our own. We wanted to help offset funeral costs. I met her father while selling pizza at the fall festival and he was a nice guy.”

A very thankful widow, Theresa Depreta was surprised to say the least.

“I was shocked and really appreciative,” Theresa Depreta said. “Everything will help out in the long run for he had no life insurance.”

She said she was really grateful for all those people that showed up at the memorial service on Feb. 18 and many of those that attended were customers.

“When he opened the restaurant, he came out of his shell,” she said. “My kids were surprised how many people came out. My husband treated everyone like family and he became the restaurant man I knew he could become. His grandchildren and children are his legacy. He was a family man and all his customers were his family.”

Many people have probably noticed that Papa Willie’s, at 921 S. Highway 160 remains closed. As far as Papa Willie’s reopening, Theresa Depreta is still unsure whether or not she will reopen.

“It is still too soon,” she said. “My kids want me to open it, but right now I feel it won’t be the same without papa.”

She said she has no problem preparing the dishes herself. Her husband had taught her how to do all the sauces.

“Perhaps I can train the kids to reopen the restaurant,” Theresa Depreta said. “But it just won’t be the same.”

Chris Su, the owner of Java Junkies, is putting on a car wash fundraiser for the family next week on Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The Nye County Republican Central Committee, with the participation of the Pahrump Valley Times, hosted a GOP debate last weekend for the contenders vying for the Republican vote in the 2020 primary election, with nearly three dozen candidates joining in to tackle a variety of topics pertinent to their various offices and thousands of voters watching over two days of discourse and debate.

The Pahrump Fall Festival is, hands down, the single largest community event in the valley each year but over the past few years, it has been dwindling a bit in terms of participation by vendors offering merchandise and goodies for the thousands of people who turn out on a regular basis. With this in mind, town and county officials have made the decision to revise the vendor booth fee schedule, lowering the prices in an effort to attract more vendors and make the 2020 Fall Festival a resounding success.

It’s been more than two months since the last community gathering was held in Pahrump and though certain restrictions are still in place regarding the number of people allowed to congregate in public or private settings, the town is now readying for the first large-scale public event since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nevada, its annual Movies in the Park.

Pahrump Valley motorists who regularly travel along Leslie Street might want to consider another route this Thursday and Friday, May 28 and 29, as the repaving project for the stretch of Leslie Street between Basin Avenue and Irene Street is set to take place over the next two days.

More than seven months after the Storm Area 51 event that had Nye County in an official state of emergency, the county now has a view of just how much the event cost it, with a reported $363,000 in unbudgeted expenses connected to the phenomenon that grew out of what was originally intended as a social media joke.

Even as we see improvement in the current pandemic, but continue the process of quarantine, isolation, hibernation and social distancing, do what you can by continuing to work at home, work with government programs and creditors.

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